How We Are Influenced by Energy Frequencies and Why Self-Care Is So Important
By, Christina Ducharme, LAc., MAOM
We are surrounded by energetic frequencies at all times. These frequencies of energy have their own feel and effect on what is around them. Sometimes we may feel uplifted to be with certain people, with a specific object, or in a certain place in nature. Inanimate objects, people, plants, animals, crystals, everything in nature, everyone you know, your computer, your phone, everything has its own vibrational frequency and those frequencies affect us in every moment and in every interaction. We can be influenced in ways that uplift and support us, or lower our vibrations. We can learn how to control the influences of what is around us, and moderate our influences on others through learning how to hold strong boundaries, and how to charge and hold a strong and coherent energy field.
Our energy fields are vibrational and have waves of energy, much like sound, although we might not be able to ‘hear’ the notes. This means that sadness, happiness, joy, jealousy, anger, sadness, grief, and all other emotions have a vibrational frequency. When we are happy and joyous we bring those frequencies into all of our interactions. Have you ever been uplifted by an interaction with someone? That’s usually because their energy field is vibrating at a higher frequency than yours. There is a concept in energy healing termed harmonic induction. This means that energy can be changed simply by being around another frequency of energy. When a tuning fork is struck another in proximity will begin to vibrate with the same sound even though it itself was not struck. In this same way two energy fields can shift and start to harmonize their vibrations together. For example, if a person with a low vibrational energy field due to sadness, grief, depression, and lack of exercise, is around someone who is full of life, joy and love, the person with the lower vibrational field may start to resonate harmonically with the other and their frequency, their entire energy, can shift. If the vibration of the other person is higher we may feel uplifted, if it is lower we may feel depleted, saddened, or that our energy is lowered. Why is that so?
Energy flow is much like the flow of water. Water always flows downhill and will find all the cracks to leak through as it travels. Energy tends to flow from higher to lower vibrational frequencies, and can also leak through cracks in our boundaries. If you live a balanced and healthy lifestyle and do things like Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Yoga (those practices that are focused on breath and energy flow); or opening and charging your chakras, practicing aligning the tan tiens, meditation, etc.; as well as eating healthy whole foods and getting exercise, you will have a higher vibrational energy field. It is easier to maintain health when your energy field is vibrating at a higher frequency. Think about a time you’ve suffered from depression or have been sick with a virus. It is much harder to do self-care during these times than when you’re feeling better, but it is at these times that it is most important and will have the greatest impact. When the energy field is strong and cohesive through regular building of energy it will be easier to maintain strong boundaries and not take on the energy of those around you. When your energy field is depleted it is harder to maintain energetic boundaries and much easier to be affected by the energies in your environment (people, objects, places).
Giving a Healing
When a practitioner is giving a healing many things happen:
• The healer is channeling specific frequencies of energy through their own energy field and transmitting them to the client’s energy field. They need to be aware of the differing frequencies they are channeling, what the client’s field is needing, and how both their own and the client’s field are being effected.
• The healer must be aware of whether or not they are using their own energy, or channeling energy through their own energy field and body.
• The healer may or may not need the specific frequencies being channeled, but may benefit from some of them.
• If the healer is more charged than the client, then healing can be transmitted.
• If the healer is less charged than the client they make take on the energy of the dis-ease of the client, the client’s energy may flow to them energizing the healer and depleting the client, or they may lower the client’s vibrational field.
• If the healer is working on an organ, block, or other aspect of the client’s healing that resonates with their own similar experience, and they haven’t worked on this before, they may find that issue coming up for them in new ways including but not limited to increased pain, emotional distress, etc. They also will also have limited effectiveness in supporting the client through something that resonates with them that they have not addressed on a deeper transformational level. You can only ever take your clients as far or as deep as you yourself have gone.
As a healer it is your responsibility to make sure that you are partaking in excellent self-care to prevent burnout, disease, and to remain happy and healthy. Giving healings can be a wonderful and very rewarding experience. It can build your energy field, strengthen your boundaries, bring healing energies to places where disharmony exists in your own field, it can feel absolutely amazing; and have fantastic therapeutic benefits for your clients at the same time! If the healer is not aware of how energy flow happens (harmonic induction, flow from high to low, boundaries, channeling universal energy instead of using their own energy, the importance of grounding, etc.) then they might not be creating a therapeutic session for their client.
Energy flows naturally from high to low frequencies and from high to low concentrations (ie: how charged your field is). Think of the analogy of your energy field being like a cup. If the cup is filled and overflowing you can share the contents without draining yourself. If the cup is nearly empty and you share the contents you will burn out. Practicing opening and charging your chakras with color, grounding, clearing your energy field, aligning the tan tiens, charging your lower tan tien, expanding core star and being connected to the flow of energy around you allows you to fill your cup to overflowing. This is why we do a healer’s prep every day, and before each healing.
If your energy field has a low charge (exhaustion, depression, excess stagnation), and you give a healing to someone with a higher charge, you may be syphoning off their energy and taking on their energetic goo as well. This will leave both of you feeling exhausted. Have you ever had an experience where you’ve gotten a massage (or other session) from someone who was sad, angry, depressed, or not present and instead of feeling good at the end you left feeling like “that was not therapeutic. I’m in more pain. I’m more depressed. I just feel gross.” That’s because you took on their energy, and/or your energy field lowered it’s vibration to match theirs. The client always has the option of saying “this doesn’t feel right. I’m cancelling/rescheduling.” It is always the client’s choice. It is also extremely important to note that the ethics of seeing clients when you aren’t able to show up for yourself demands that you reschedule your clients, engage in self-care, and see your clients when you are feeling that your cup is full again.
Daily Practices of Self-Care
- Open chakras and work with color on all three unstructured levels (2, 4, 6)
- Charge lower Tan Tien
- Align Hara
- Expand Core Star
- Eat healthy whole foods (limit processed foods)
- Drink water
- Exercise
- Tai Chi
- Qi Gong
- Yoga
- Meditation
- Develop a spiritual practice
Commitment to Self
What stands in the way of you committing to any of the above practices? How can you commit to yourself? Can you choose yourself as the most important thing, why or why not?
Let’s look at an example of a commitment that someone would like to make to themselves, and the different levels of what gets in their way with following through with their commitment.
Example:
• Commitment to self: spend 1 hour a day opening chakras, aligning hara and expanding core star
•What gets in the way:
• First level: life, children, prepping food for breakfast and lunch, lack of sleep, procrastination
• Second level: I’m not worthy, I don’t know why I do this, I don’t have time for me
•Third level: If I do what I truly want I don’t know how I’ll change or what I’ll lose (people, idea of self, etc.)
• Fourth level: fear
In the above scenario the person may find that they are terrified of changing and becoming more of who they authentically are. They may take this to supervision with their teacher or to a therapy session and find the keys to unlocking their commitment to self.
Working through the fears of what keeps us from committing to ourselves helps us to chose self over and over again and to grow into the fullest and truest expression of self. As we grow into the truest expression of self our energy field grows stronger, bigger, and can handle and hold higher vibrations of energy. Our boundaries grow stronger and unhealthy relationships, beliefs, and ways of being fall away. When you understand energy flow, how energy is transferred, and engage in radical self-care, the whole world changes.
I ask you, what do you want with this sacred life, and how do you choose to meet it?